First as a man (and a husband) who does most of the stovetop cooking in our house, I take offense at your remark. ;) Just kidding.

Any reason you are not considering gas? If electric is a must and you like cast iron, then look into induction. Cast iron is great with induction (probably the best) and induction surfaces. That doesn't address your concerns about surface though.

The ceramic glass used in smooth cooktops are pretty durable nowadays. I wouldn't be too concerned. They are comparable to the old shatter proof glass used on front of the original console TVs. This was back when the picture tubes were more fragile and people were afraid kids would run into them. I had to demolish a bunch of those for my shop teacher and we took out the glass, put it in a dumpster and took a hammer to it. It usually took about 3-5 really good whacks as hard as we could to get them to break. I certainly hope you don't have that type of abuse going on.

Has anyone here broken a smooth surface cooktop before? Please comment. I'd be interested to hear how it happened.

Has anyone here broken a smooth surface cooktop before? Please comment. I'd be interested to hear how it happened.

Yes I have. I slammed a cast iron skillet on it (hard!) and knocked off about a 3" corner.

I think the only risk of breaking a glass cooktop is if you have a cabinet above the stove and you drop something on it when you reach for it. So you have to be EXTRA CAREFUL not to drop anything on the glass.

Not the only risk but definitely a risk. I dropped a glass spice jar on that same cooktop and it broke it further. I have a sneaking suspicion that this only happened because it dropped right next to the existing break where the glass' strength may have been already compromised.

Can you shake a pan on a glass top without scratching it?

Yes and no. After years of abuse my cooktop does have very fine scratches, but you really have to look hard to see them. In fact I never even noticed them until a little while back when I was about to post that I have no scratches, and I decided to double-check before saying that. As such they wouldn't bother me even if they were on the most expensive induction cooktop. Show me an 8 year old cooktop that doesn't show any signs of wear and I'll show you a cooktop that doesn't get used much.

Despite my broken cooktop, the durability factor would be very low on my list of cons when weighing my options. In fact it probably wouldn't even make my list.

I didn't break one but a friend of mine did. A pot boiled over and melted sugar under the pot without her realizing it. When she went to remove the pot from the cooktop, she couldn't lift it from the surface. She decided to give the handle a pop with the heel of her hand and managed to break the glass. Lucky for her, it was covered under warranty.

related question: My husband makes popcorn 3-4 nights a week the old fashioned way shaking (and SLIDING)the pan. What do you think this will do to An electric glass cooktop? I've really gotten used to the idea of easy cleaning of the glass cooktop rather than re-plumb for gas. Don't want to clean burners.

rebaw - My hubby cooks popcorn this way too. We are going to go with an induction cook top and have him use a silicon mat underneath the pan.

With induction, you could use a paper towel under the pan while cooking. I use one while cooking bacon/sausage or anything that might splatter. Easy cleanup.

Ya STOLE my trick, weedmeister, just kidding , but we use the paper towels all the time too, just don't go away and forget a pan of water that is boiling vigoursly (High temp setting on cooktop) or the dry pan mite get hot nuff to set off the paper towel. We use the towel cause easy to clean up, especially spagetti sauce as it tends to "burp" on anything within a mile of it.
Far as scratchin goes, one wouldnt want to use a pan with a really bad bottom on it and swish it around---ya might get away it but why look for trouble
Gary

Thanks for all the info. The range in question died Labor day weekend with a strangled shorting noise, a pop of sparks and a lot of smoke. The only thing we could replace it with was another Jenn air, now whirlpool. Two weeks later, we've gotten the range delivered after hunting high and low for another electric downdraft slide in. There isn't one! We're still waiting for the burner cartridges to be delivered. ( it didn't come with burners!) I got one pod of ceran glass, and one pod of regular coil burners. Will let you know what my army of idjuts does to the glass cook top with cast iron.
Thanks, again.

I just replaced a smooth cook top that had a control panel malfunction with another one. I used cast iron on the old one but am struggling with whether I should do it again. Does the cast iron cause damage to the heating element? We did have one element go out but it was a back one that wasn't used with cast iron. I did take my cast iron pan out and sand the bottom really smooth when I got the first stove. I can't say I noticed scratches, but all the elements seemed to discolor to a reddish color even when off.

I replaced an 18yo Kenmore smoothtop cooktop last year, and I used cast iron on it lots, and never noticed any damage or even scratching to its surface. I replaced it with a gas range, since despite its good looks and durability, it was awful to cook on. Took wayyyy too long to heat up and cool down.

I have a different question of sorts about cooking with cast iron. I use it alot especially for cooking cornbread it is the only way to go. I'm in the market for a new gas range & have read on another site that a standard oven without convection is better if you are using cast iron. Is this true?

My mother broke the top of her glass top stove -- still not sure how it happened. She was boiling cabbage in a large pot to make stuffed cabbage and the thing cracked. I think it might have been some kind of thermal shock. It was a freak thing -- I had one for 9 years and never so much as a scratch on it. I think they are very durable.

I have been too chicken to put a paper towel under the skillet when cooking bacon on my induction stove. Someday I'll get up the nerve to try it. Although the grease still splatters on the control panel since I have slide-in.

cottagedweller, I would be asking why "no convection" would be better with cast iron? I think no convection might be better when baking corn muffins because the hot air can set the outside of the muffins and inhibit rising. This is probably just one opinion though. If you have the cast iron well heated, it might raise quickly before the outside has a chance to set. I love my convection and have used it to dry fruit and veggies and it is so useful. I have been baking for 45 years before I had it!

wekick, I read cast iron needs direct heat because of its thickness, weight. I use a cast iron skillet for my cornbread. I always preheat the skillet with the oven so it will be good & hot when the batter goes in, so maybe it would not be a problem if I continue to preheat. I've read so many great things convection I really wanted one on my next range, that I'm in the process of trying to choose now.

Don't know if this is true now, but my old (~14 yrs) JennAir range has a convection option, thus you can choose to bake w/ or w/out convection. Might be worth checking into...

I think all convection ovens let you go without convection for cheesecakes and delicate poofy items. It's certainly an option to verify.

The thing about cast iron is that it holds heat so there might be different heat ratios from bottom to top if you're using a cast iron pan uncovered.. If you're not used to using cast iron, and/or not used to using convection, you might have a learning curve. I would have thought that convection would even out uncovered cast iron, but I might be wrong. There is absolutely no reason not to use cast iron for any kind of cooking--just be aware that you'll have to figure out the right heat settings and timing.

I don't know what "needs direct heat" means--if that's supposed to be needs to be on the stove, that's hooey--but I agree that preheating it for baking might be necessary or the top will be done before the pan gets hot.

Re pots sticking, I had a cast iron pot in the oven, which I moved to my induction to finish. I knew it had bubbled over a lot in the oven, but didn't realize how much juice had gotten on the bottom. It was good and stuck after half an hour at a slow boil. I was scared that tugging too hard would damage the glass, so I just scooped out all the food, once it was done, and let everything cool. When it was cold, I just tugged (carefully) and it released. The remaining glop dissolved with a wet paper towel, and the cooked on bits came off with a plant fiber scrubby, no worse for the wear.

plllog, I'm very used to cooking on cast iron even outside with our dutch ovens -this is fun & the food is delicious- but I have never used a convection oven before. Maybe the phrase direct heat concerning the cast iron wasn't correct; I forget how the article worded it exactly. I'm ASSUMING it meant if the air is circulating around the heat wouldn't be as intense as opposed to radiating from the source? I'm clueless really, if an oven is 350 degrees, it's 350 right?

350 is 350 but with convection there is air movement so the rate of heat transfer to a cooler pan introduced to the oven would be greater with convection. There is also a drying effect and with air movement there SHOULD be more even temps. If you have a heating element around the convection fan, depending on how much that element comes on, you may be creating a hot spot, immediately in front of the fan. In some settings the element is the primary heat while other settings(conv, roast vs bake or pure convection) it rotates among all the elements. I had a problem with burning on the side toward the convection fan on one oven I had. The one I have now is Electrolux and it bakes very evenly, but it rotates among all the elements and the element behind the fan comes on very little. I do think the idea of European convection is alot of hype, especially if you watch how the elements come on.

Cottagedweller, I'm not sure what that meant either, but I wouldn't get too concerned about an article that isn't well understood.

It might be that since the cast iron, once heated, remains heated, convection doesn't provide a particular benefit. Other than the breeze across the top and the variation in temperature between the bottom and an uncovered top, I can't figure out what the problem would be.

There aren't many things I make in an oven in uncovered cast iron. Most notably my mother's egg thing that's halfway between a fritatta and a souffle. Also, pan cake things like your cornbread. I don't think convection would be great for either of these kinds of dishes, and as has been said, you should have a mode without the fan.

Hm... I wonder if you're counting on the self basting effect of the lid of a cast iron dutch oven, would the convection affect this? Keep it too warm to rain the steam back into the stew? I've only used a dutch oven once in convection so far (brand new kitchen) and it wasn't anything that mattered.

I'm still trying to figure out what the problem would be. I suppose that could happen.

For casseroles and the like I am more likely to use a baking dish (glass or stoneware), and for roasts I'm more likely to use a baking dish or thin roasting pan. But that's habit.